Shut-off valve for oil and gas wells.



W. A. RUTH.

SHUT-OFF VALVE FOR OIL AND GAS WELLS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1911.

998,400, Patented July 18, 1911.

wn'uzssz's 0 a O mvzu'ron WILLIAM A. RUTH, OF AVALON, PENNSYLVANIA.

SHUT-OFF VALVE FOR OIL AND GAS WELLS.-

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 1911.

Application filed February 16, 1911. Serial in. 608,951.

v citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding at Avalon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and 'useful Improvements in Shut-O11 Valves for Oil and Gas WVells, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to a shut off valve for oil and gas wells and the primary ob ect of my invention is to provide a novel valve for quickly. closing the upper end of a well tubing or casing when oil or gas is struck b the drilling tools, thereby preventing the 011 or gas from wasting until proper connections can be made with the well.

Another object of the invention is to provide a double slide valve that can-be advantageously used for closin the upper end of a. well tubing or casing wit the drilling cable therein, the slides of the valve being constructed to snugly embrace the drilling cable and prevent a waste of oil and gas when the well comes in.

A further object of the invention is to provide a valve of the above type that is durable, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to operate and highly efiicient for the purposes for which it is intended.

Vith the above and other objects in vlew the invention resides in a novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter specifically described and then claimed.

Reference will now be had to the drawing wherein there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that the structural elements 1 thereof are susceptible to such changes as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing:Figure 1 is a frontv elevation of the.valve. Fig. 2 is a crosssectional view of a portion of the same. 1 Fig. 3

' is a perspective view of one of the slides of thereof recessed to provide a rectangular valve compartment 6 and in communication with this compartment is the bore 7 of a cap 8 formed integral with the section 1.

Oppositely disposed sides of the cap 8are provided with transverse enlargements 9 formed integral with the section 1 and said enlargements are provided with jcentral pockets 10 in communication with the compartment 6. The enlargements 9 are furthermore provided with longitudinal bores 11, and one end of each bore is reduced, as at 12 to provide an annular seat '13 for the annular shoulder 14 of a valve stem 15 r0.- tatably mounted in the bore of each enlargement. The valve stem 15 is normally retained upon the seat 13 b a coiled compression spring 16 arrange in the rear end of the bore 9 and retained therein by a plug 17 detachably mounted in the rear end of the bore 9. The forward end of the valve stem 15 is provided with a rectangular shank 18 and mounted upon said shank is a seg ment gear 19. These segment gears are adapted to mesh, as shown in Fig. 1, whereby the valve stems 15 will be moved in unison. Each of the shanks 18 is provided with a reduced portion 18 for the receptionof a cotter pin to retain the sector gear 19 thereonand for the reception of a wrench to operate the valve stem.

That portion of each valve stem extending throughthe pocket 10 is rectangular in cross section, as at 20 and mounted upon said stem is aseetor pinion or half-geared wheel 21 meshing with a rack 22 in the under side of slides 23 and 23 arranged in the compartment 6. The slides are adapted to no operate inclosing the upper end of the bore 7, and the inner ends of the slides are constructed whereby they will interlock either to completely close the upper end of the bore 7 or to close the same with a drilling cable extendin downwardly in the bore. The interlocking ends of the slides are identical but one slide is inverted relatively to the other. Each slide has the end thereof provided with a semi-circular recess 21 de scribed upon a radius equivalent to the radius of the bore 7, whereby when the slides are 0 en the walls of the recesses 24 will vertically aline with the walls of the bore 7. The wall of the recess 24, intermediate the ends thereof is cut away to provide a semi-circular recess 25. and the radius of this recess is adapted to correspond to the radius of the cable that extends through the bore'7.

' Each slide has one face thereof cut away to 'rovide a large semi-circular portion 26 an a small semi-circular portion 27 these portions have .radii corresponding to the radii ofthe recesses 24 and 25 respectively.

The formation of .the portion 26 provides shoulders 28 against which the inner ends.

of the slides abut when the slides are closed, the small portion 27 of the slide 23 fitting into the recess '25 of the slide 23 and the large portion 26 of the slide 23 fitting into the recess 24 of the slide 23, and vice versa.

The valve section 2 is provided with a vertical nipple 29 having the bore 30 vertically alining with the bore- 7 to the cap 8. An outlet pipe 31 can be easily connected to the nipple 29.

The cap 8 is adapted to be mounted upon the upper end 'of a well casing or t-ublng,

and with the slides 23 and 23 open the ordinary drilling operations can be carried on in the .well. Should oil or'gas be struck one of the valve stems 15 can be rotated to shift the slides 23 and 23*- inwardly to snugly embrace the drilling cable and prevent the oil and gas from Wasting. The drilling cable can be raised until the drilling tools encounter the slides 23 and 23 and then the slides can be opened to allow the drilling-tools to-pass out and then again close. The outlet pipe 31 canthen be concan be readily assembled.

nected to the nipple and assuming that this pipe is connected to a tank or suitable reservoir, the slides can be opened.

From the foregoing it will be observed that I have devlseda novel double slide valve having the slides thereof constructed to 006 erate in'closing the valve body The valve is non-leakableand the parts thereof What'I claim is I 1. A valve of the type described comprising a sectional body, interlocking slides arformed therein, a cap eea,4oo

be shifted 'to close the upper end of said cap, and means including sector gears adapted to shift said slides in unison.-

4. A valve of the type described comprising a sectional body, a cap carried by one section thereof and in communication with said 'body, a nipple carried by the other section of said body and vertically alining with said cap, slides arranged in said body and adapted to be shifted to shut off the 'communlcation between said cap and said nipple, and means includin valve stems and sector gears adapted to s ift the slides.

5. A valve of the type described comprising a sectional body having a compartment carried by said body and in communication with the comartment thereof, a nipple carried by said ody and in communication with the compartment thereof, slides arranged-in the compartment of said body and having the ends thereof constructed to interlock and :control the communication between said cap and said nipple, and means including racks, sec: t'or gears and valve stems adapted to shift said slides.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. RUTH. Witnesses:

' MAX H. Snonovrrz, A CHRISTINA T. Hoon. 

